Quote of the Day (Arthur Ashe, on ‘True Heroism’)

“True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost." — American professional tennis player, author, activist—and yes, true hero—Arthur Ashe (1943-1993), quoted in Bob Kelly, Worth Repeating: More Than 5,000 Classic and Contemporary Quotes (2003)

Quote of the Day (Ralph Waldo Emerson, on Doing Something ‘Strange and Extravagant’)

“Adhere to your own act, and congratulate yourself if you have done something strange and extravagant and broken the monotony of a decorous age.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Heroism,” in Essays: First Series (1841)

Quote of the Day (Ernest Hemingway, on Heroism and Parents)

"All the heroes are dead. And the real heroes are the parents. Dying is a very simple thing. I’ve looked at death and really I know. If I should have died it would have been very easy for me. Quite the easiest thing I ever did. But the people at home do not realize that. They suffer a thousand times more."—Ernest Hemingway, letter of October 18, 1918, to his family, written while recovering from wound incurred while serving as an ambulance driver in Italy in WWI, in The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1907-1922, edited by Sandra Spanier and Robert W. Trogdon (2011)